Fallout UK 1 : Family
by Tetris229
Summary: A story of a group of friend who have been living their whole lives together, surviving however they can in post apocolyptic united kingdom.
1. Chapter 1

**Fallout  
**

The sun rose sleepily over the houses of parliament, Golden beams of light found their way through the windows and cracks in the buildings, adding to their majestic sight. The shadows slowly retreated over London giving new life to every building, every street. Finally it climbed up the prominent tower, higher and higher until finally the face of Big Ben glistened in the new morning. The Hands forever stuck at twenty past two with the second hand having fallen of some one hundred years ago. The sun light moved through the cracks as fluid as water until finally it reached Jacob. Standing above the world enjoying the sunrise in Cat boots, torn blue denim jeans with duct tape slapped on over tears, a greying vest and a green R.A.F jacket, his grandfathers to be precise. Jake breathed in and out slowly and enjoyed the few minutes left on his watch because he knew, this would be the only minute's peace he would have today. He took three steps back, turned, grabbed the metal ladder and slid down. Were it not for his fingerless leather gloves he would've cut his hands for sure.

His boots hit the wooden floor panels with a thud and dust flew up from the floor, as they did birds scattered from the rafters. Jake skipped down the stair case two at a time until he finally reached the basement door. Gripping the Rusting protruding handle, Jake tugged and the door swung open with a lazy groan. Ahead of him there was a staircase which seemed to trail of into blackness past the first three steps. Jake sat on the third step pulled out his lighter and looked around for the light switch in the flickering light. His hand found a small breaker box, Jake yanked open the cover and shoved all the switches from standby to online. A familiar hum made the stairs shiver slightly and Jake smiled as the lights started to blink on one by one.

"It's going to be a good day" he thought to himself, pushing is hair out of his eyes. Jake stepped down into the complex where the power for Big Ben and probably the back up power for the houses of parliament were kept.

Jakes feet clanged on the metal floor as he walked down the steel corridors, he rounded a corner and passed a large wall of lockers and found what he was looking for, the central hub. He punched in the numbers 229 into the door code and felt the heavy locks shunt open. The door glided open silently and Jake grinned at the sight before him. A dozen sleeping bags and mattresses littered the floor all circling the central generator hub which kept this room warm even in the freezing nights. Jake watched as his family slowly rose from their sleep. In the furthest corner on the left side of the room a single mattress lay with Chris and Sarah asleep on it. Chris was well built, covered all over in brown hair except for his beard which even though it made his chin look an half an inch thicker than normal, was a strange rust colour. Laying on top of him was Sarah a small girl with long, deep red hair that came down just past her shoulders, She lay their fiddling with Chris chest hair happily. On the parallel wall Balai's green sleeping bag was visible his ludicrously long, tangle of black hair covering his stubbly chin and green eyes. Nearing the centre of the room 2 mattresses pushed together made the bed for Michelle, a very cute girl with blonde hair that she pulled back in a pony tail, blue eyes which hid behind thick square glasses and forever draped in her green and brown striped jumper. Her boyfriend Ryan was lying next to her, his short black hair sticking up like some Japanese comic book hero and skin so pale he could pass for a ghost. At the foot of this mattress were the last 2 sleeping bags, in them Ben and Richard slept, Ben with shaggy blonde hair that had a fringe which refused to show the world his blue eyes and Richard, with jet black hair which he always managed to keep strangely tidy.

Jake kicked the hollow casing of a broken computer to awaken the crowd, they all groaned and writhed like they were god forsaken zombies from strange horror flick.

"I'm living with ghouls" Jake thought to himself laughing as he did. He needed them up to talk to them sooner rather than later, they all chose not to worry about it and decided things were fine but Jake knew, the generator wasn't going to last forever and without fuel to keep it running they'd have to find somewhere new to live and that meant moving, and nobody liked moving. Soon the group had woken and pulled back on their shirts and trousers and whatever elements of clothing they removed to sleep. They usually slept in most of their clothes though, to keep warm. They all moved through the complex to what use to be the computer terminals, however since they were just going to eat up power, they had agreed to disconnect the computers and get rid of them so they could use the desks to sit down and eat or talk. The dishevelled group sat down at the make shift table and began to pick at the food scavenged from vending machines.

"Ok so who wants too much salt, and who wants too much sugar?" Ryan asked loudly as he scooped up sweets.

"Sugar" Michelle called back, her eyes half closed and her head in her arms on the table.

"Salt for me" Chris yelled from the end of the table his feet up on a spare chair.

Jake waited for the hungry bunch to finish throwing food to one another and then he spoke.

"Alright guys" he started stepping forward, "we've been living down here for how long now?"

"18 months" piped up Balai checking his pip boy.

"thanks mate" continued Jake " 18 months is a long time and quite frankly we've been really lucky that the generator has lasted this long, but we're going to need fuel to keep it running or we're going to have to find a new place to stay."

Jake stopped because the reaction he thought…no…knew was coming came.

"move again!?" Chris groaned tilting his head back.

" but we're living in a clock!" Shouted Ben distraught, Richard just leaned back on his chair poking at his black leather jacket whilst Ryan, Michelle and Sarah just sighed.

"Yes it's a bother" Jake started up again, "Yes it's a pain in the arse having to get back up and move out, but do any of you really want to risk what might happen if the generator goes whilst you're all sleeping down there, or what might happen if we stay here too long and raiders find us? Or worse Slavers?" The group fell silent and gave each other sideways glances; Chris put his arm around Sarah who had tears in her eyes. Jake knew that Chris was going to be pissed at him later but he didn't have time for that right now.

"look…" Ryan got up slowly as he spoke, "Why don't we use today to find some food and fuel then we'll have more options about what we do, and it'll give us some time to actually plan out where we're going to move to." Ryan looked around hopefully

"I like that idea actually" Richard said a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"yeah, at least this way we've got some time to think about it and decide as a group" Michelle sounded excited. Jake couldn't blame them having a chance to move about and find new supplies kept everyone happy for longer and the more things they had to keep their mind off their situation the better. Jake wasn't sure on the details, he only had bits and pieces of information gathered from books and people he'd met, what he did know was this. Some time during the 1950s nuclear power became the cleanest, the safest and the most efficient way of powering everything around the world. Across the west things became nuclear over a matter of months, Cars, computers, homes, planes, anything the world needed, was nuclear. Then the cold war came. Communist aggression from the red armies of the Soviet Union and the red star of china had combined to create a serious threat to the capitalist nations of the west including America and its democracy. After this Jakes knowledge got sketchy but apparently the red army invaded Alaska and America viewed this as a sign of aggression so they liberated Alaska, not long afterwards the communist army used nuclear warheads and Jake could only guess but judging from the wasteland England had become, he would bet anything that any country with a warhead fired it at something without a moments hesitation. Now some 200 years later Jake and his dysfunctional family had been trying to survive for as long as he could remember.

As soon as Jake realized they were better together he made it his job to keep them all safe. Everything else didn't matter; he'd even forgotten how old he was. The last time he remembered his age he was twenty seven but that was two or 3 years ago, he'd lost track of time until he found Balai with his Pip-boy 3000.

"Alright then" Jake said clapping his hands together, "we've got a long day if this is what we're doing, and we all know what the deal is when we go outside. No one goes anywhere alone, everyone stays within radio contact and everything is up for scavenging but the most important things come first, fuel, food, ammo you know the drill."

"Alright then" Chris half shouted jumping to his feet. The band of friends made their way through the corridors to the stair case Jake had come down before and moved up to the heavy set of double doors which barred Big Ben from the rest of the world. Jake, Chris and Ben kicked open several large crates they had situated at the foot of the stairs and took out the contents, Ben passed out hand held radios to their friends who had started separating into groups. Jake pulled out a rusted shotgun and slung it over his shoulder then he threw a 9mm pistol Ben and another to Michelle. Ben had spent most of his childhood shooting rad-roaches with BB guns making him very adept at shooting. Michelle before they found her lived in an arcade in a shopping centre that still had power thanks to the nuclear power generator. Needless to say her life had been one epic video game. Jake pulled out a revolver checked it had all 8 shots then slipped it into it's leather holster strapped to his vest under his jacket.

"Alright guys, 5 hours, and then we meet. Balai send out times on the hour. We meet at upturned double Decker bus ok?"

"Got it"

"Gotcha"

"No problem"

"Aye sir"

"Right" Jake said, he turned lifted the wooden two by four that kept the door sealed, and pushed the doors open. The dishevelled looking band broke off into groups and proceeded through the wreckage that was London.

Michelle and Ryan always paired off together, they loved having time to spend together alone, not that the wasteland was much of a romantic atmosphere, usually the only sign of life they would come across would be a merchant caravan or a brahmin. Ryan always found Brahmin hilarious, not because of the fact that horrible amounts of radiation ahd mutated regular cows into two headed brown freaks, but that Brahmin tipping was the funniest thign on the planet. He and Michelle loved the idea of watching the helpless creature keel over to the roaring, monotonous sound of "moo". However since they had moved closer inland and away from the country he hadn't seen a brahmin in quite some time. Michelle and Ryan walked hand in hand down what was left of the English road untill they came to a familiar T junction.

"We've gone left here the past 6 trips," Ryan said scratching his chin "since this may be our last, i say we go right, we may get lucky and find a tin of hotdogs."

Michelle smiled, she loved her boyfriends sence of humour.

"yeah or maybe a five star hotel with clean beds and a bathtub" she said turning right and starting to walk "you could definitly use one"

Ryan had been staring absent mindidly at a burnt out billboard, suddenly came to at the remark and hurried after Michelle an argument already forming in his mind. On the otherside of the thames, Richard and his crew were busy prying open the boot of an upturned Ford. Richard wiped a beat of sweat from his brow and breathed deep, watching hsi friends work so hard made him consider helping, but something shiny on the floor caught his eye and he lsot all interest in the groups toil. Ben and Chris were furiously wrestling with the hatch, which had been bent so stubbornly inward that somehow the whole concept of what might be inside seemed like a giant "Fuck you" to anyone who tried to get in. Sarah lay back in the sun happily watching her "man" work. Chris had always managed to find time to stay in shape, an admirable traight considering all anyone else could manage was to just survive. Balai stood upon pile of rubble just next to the ford, absorbed with his pip-boy 3000.

"You got any music for us today?" Sarah called up to him "that station you got last time was brilliant"

"I might do" came Balais reply, his eyes not leaving the tiny green screen, "THat station last time came from america though and i only got it because of the boosted signal strength from the electric pylon."

Sarah closed her eyes and basked in the sun, "Less nerdy more musicy." She replied

"For Fuck Sake!" Chris shouted angrily as the car door failed to open yet again. Ben Kicked the metal chassis in frustration only to find the bones in his feet were somewhat weaker than the handle of a car door. As a result to his action he slumped to the floor clutching his foot fighting back tears, his blonde hair falling into his face. Chris turned to Richard who seemed utterly amused at what had transpired.

"why are we opening this thing again?" Chris asked, somethign in his tone suggested that it had better be bloody interesting.

Richard leaned on a stop sign just behind him and spoke in a semi-patronising tone "Because judging from how it turned over, i'm guessing it reversed from parked over the messed up trolly just infront of the wheele."

Chris faught back his urge to slap Richard for being a ponce and asked "sooooooo?"

Richard smiled and stepped forward, "so look at what it was parked infront of" Chirs turned and glanced up at the large store just next to the road. He couldn't make out the writing but it was obvious fro mthe design that it was a supermarket. Chris let his shoulders slouch and eased up a little.

"so you think someone was shopping here reversed the car, then crashed?" He said already knowing the answer.

"Precisly." came Richards semi-patronising tone yet again "but think we might need something to smash this open."

"what an astute observaton einstein, please go on!" said Ben the pain in his foot bypassing his manners.

"I suppose we could..." but what richard thought would have to wait, for at that point, the ground next to him shifted and dust flew up from the ground and an all too familiar "Crack" rang out through the air. Richard dove left towards the shop and as he did so shouted

"RAIDERS!"

All at ocne the group moved, Sarah rolled over onto her stomach pushed up with her arms and ran full pelt towards a knocked over telephone box. Ben rolled to his left and ducked behind the ford whilst Balai, standing atop his mountain of rubble glanced around and hesitated.

"Balai! get down!" Ben shouted at the top of his he did so he felt a gush of wind past him and saw Chris run full pelt up the rubble grab Balai by the shoulders and force him down the otherside and out of sight. Ben would have to figure out what happened to them later, right now he had to worry about where whoever was shooting at them was and how many there were. Richard had flown through the frame of where a glass window had once stood and was kneeling by some shelves in the supermarket, He pulled out his radio and held down the switch.

"Jakob this is Richard come in over" He said, each second it took for Jakes reply seemed like a lifetime, he saw sarah glance over the telephone box and heard another crack as the box dented.

"What's the problem richard? over" Came Jakobs voice distorted by the reciever.

"We've got raiders just across the Bridge." Richard said not daring to stick his head out from cover to look for the others.

"I'm on my way, stay down" Came Jacobs reply then the radio went silent.

Chris was lying on top of balai and pinning him to the ground his breathing sounded like thunder in the deadly silence of the situation. Balai was looking to his left, his vision enclosed to whatever he could see underneath the parked car next to them. He saw a foot stet past the rear tire, he hed his breathe. Not like a normal foot, this one was tanned colour, cooked in the sun with red sores travelling up the ankle as far as he could see. Brown straps of leather wrapped around it so tightly he could see where it was cutting into the flesh. Chris stopped breathing when he saw and the pair of them lay there as quiet as the grave, praying the Sadist raider wouldn't pass the car.

"Fuck it" Ben whispered to himself, and as he did so he turned and stood over the upturned car wreck and as he did so he saw them. three raiders moving slowly in a scattered formation, drifting through the concrete wreck like ghosts. All the sound in the world seemed to disapear andall Ben could hear was his own heartbeat as he raised his pistol. The front raider was grinning wildly, a matted and black beard surrounded his mouth like a some diseased sore. He clutched some kind of rusted rifle at his hip, THe woman next to him was half bald and her face was looked in some manic look of hysteria. The raider to the far left and furthest back was wearing a dented welders helmet and clutched a pool que like it was some kind of spear. These first images burned into Bens mind forever as he realized this moment might be his last. Bang.

Ben pulled the trigger once and the front raiders head jerked back, blood spraying out all over the paving stones, He fired again and the crazed lady screamed as the bullet tore through her chest, the demented look of insanity still glued on her face. Ben didn't fire a third time, instead he felt a pool que collide with his left temple and a second later, felt his right temple collide with the ground beneath him. Seeing double he looked up at the Helmet clad raider who for a moment seem to consider picking up Bens pistol. The raider reached into his putrid overalls and removed a rusted and jagged piece of metal, he cocked his head to one side and took one step forward, then two steps back. Sarah had jumped from her hiding spot grabbed hold of his mask and yanked it back with all of her might. The raider moaned a deep moan as he was pulled away fro his prey. Sarah pulled the straps attaching the helmet to his mottled skull refusing to think about what mgiht happen to her if the raider won this fight untill she felt a hand grab her hair. The raider had thrown his arm over his head and in one swift motion pulled Sarah up by her hair and threw her onto the ground next to Ben. Winded sarah looked up at the raider and stared into the emotionless visor that hid his eyes. The raider dropped to his knees and grabbed Sarah by her shirt and started tugging. Sarah kicked frantically and screamed with whatever capacity her lungs had. Ben leaned over and feebly grabbed the raiders arm but he knocked it away like he was made from paper. Sarah heard a ripping noise and punched as hard as she could at the monstrocity ontop of her, then she felt her arms pinned to the ground by one powerfull fist above her head and felt a disgustingly hot clammy hand grab her chin and force it to look into the visor of the raider. For one horrific moment she prepared herself for what was about to come, and then blinked as the contents of the raiders chest exploded over her.

Jake Tore the corpse from ontop of his friend and threw it against the wall. Though already dead that didn't stop him from tearing off the helmet to reveal a cross between a bloody mess and a human head, burying hs shotgun in it's mouth and disintergrating it with one shell. The wall was painted red like some gothic sunrise and the headless body flopped to the ground. Jake turned in one swift motion pumping his shotung, the rust made an awefull scraping noise like grinding teeth and stopped. Jacob breathed one deep breathe then let his weapon slide back to his hip. He dropped to one knee and helped Sarah up. Sarah was shaking uncontrollably, one hand held the left side of her shirt up while the other clutched her stomach, she took one look at Jake and then doubled over wretching on the floor. Jake winced and pulled Ben up from the ground. Ben was still seeing double of a fashion but gave Jake enough attention to say

"i've got one mother of a headache", Jake smiled and sat his friend down propped up against the wall of the street, he turned to sarah who was finally starting to calm down.

"are you ok?" Jake asked nervously, he had no idea how much of a traumatizing effect that could've had on Sarah, he had flashbacks of his sister louise, a haunting green hand dragging her backwards down a corridor, her ginger hair leaving a trail through the rusted radio active rooms, her wide eyes bulging through a tank. Jake clicked his fingers loudly, it brought him back to the present, he shouldn't...couldn't think of that now, not ever. Sarah looked up at, her dust covered face had white lines where her tears had washed it white. The hopelessly Tomboy girl looked more like an angel than ever at that moment, her blue/green eyes bloodshot her bare shoulder exposing luminously white skin, her red hair contrasting everything about her. Sarah breathed deep, stood up on tiptoes and kiss Jakob lightly on the cheek and whispered

"Thank you".


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

**Salt in the wound**

Chris clenched his fist. The raider was walking slowly but surely around the car. Balai was breathing as quietly as he could knowing what was about to come. Suddenly a vicious crackling sound erupted from Balais wrist and he stared horrified as the radio started blaring out some god awful tune from the 1950s. Balai slapped the mute switch then looked up to realize Chris was up and diving across the bonnet of the car. Balai got to his feet and turned to see Chris had leapt onto the raider and pinned her to the ground, Her eyes were brown and her scalp seemed to be missing chunks of hair, Chris felt diseased just touching her skin. It was all he had to keep her arms and legs pinned to the floor. The raiders mouth was gnawing at Chris chin uncontrollably, froth seemed to leak from the corners of her lips and her slash of a mouth seemed to crease into a dismantled grin. Balai took one step forward and stumbled; he caught himself on the car and looked down to see a lead pipe jutting from a pile of concrete bricks. Chris felt his leg slip for a split second then felt a sharp kick into his stomach. He flew backwards onto the road and jumped to his feet just in time to see the raider come running screaming at him, what looked like a butcher's knife in her hand.

Chris caught her wrist with both hands and dropped to one knee, he could smell the raw meat off the raiders back as she forced the dull blade ever closer to his heart. Balai grabbed the pole and tore it up from the ground and brought it down on the raider's wrist with all of his strength. Chris stood up as the raider stumbled backwards clutching her broken wrist. She looked up her eyes wild and in one fluid motion threw the knife into Balais shoulder. He screamed and drops to the floor his blood oozing past the metal. Chris ran at the raider, scooping up the lead pipe as he did so and without breaking stride he knocked half the raider's teeth skyward with an uppercut. The deranged woman fell onto her back, choking on her own blood. Something disappeared from Chris mind; he felt strangely empty, like there was no thought inside his head. All he felt was hatred to the pathetic mess sprawled on the floor. Chris turned on his heel and rushed to Balai.

"You alright mate?" he asked, his voice trembling as he examined Balais wound.

"i...i...can't feel it...but..." Balai couldn't bring himself to say a sentence and his eyes rolled back into his head.

"Shit!" Chris shouted the panic now having spread to his eyes, "hold on" Chris whipped around and ran up the rubble he had pushed Balai off minutes ago. He stood atop the mountain just in time to see Sarah lean back from tiptoes away from Jakes mouth and walk over to the wall where Ben was sitting clutching his head. Jake looked up at Chris and a relieved smile broke across his face.

"Thank god you're ok. Where were you?"

Chris shook the thought from his head and focussed on the problem at hand. "I'm fine but Balais been hit with a knife, I think he might've gone into shock."

Jakes face fell; he knew that if the cut became infected there was next to nothing he could do to save Balai.

"Where is he?"

Sarah wiped a cloth fashioned from her torn shirt over Balais head.

"He's not looking good" she said, her face awash with worry, "what are we going to do?"

Jake had his arms crossed and was standing over Balai thinking hard.

"The cut is infected, we're going to need some kind of medicine for that and that is the one thing we don't have any of." He said more to himself than to anyone else.

"Ben and Richard are here" Chris said pointing toward the rubble mountain next to the ever upturned ford. Ben and Richard hurried down, their arms' filled with paper. Jake turned.

"Where did you find all of this?" he asked, Ben nervously placed the pile of paper on the floor.

"The metro" was his shaky reply.

"You guys went into the metro!" Jake nearly shouted at them.

"I just stuck my head in ok" Ben replied looking into jakes eyes "we needed these for balai."

Jake was about to argue that it wasn't worth the risk when Balai started coughing up red over Sarah's sleeve.

"All right fine" he said finally "give me a map."

Ben threw Jake one of the London maps.

"Right" Jake murmured. "Let's see if we can find a hospital.

His eyes scanned the intricate web of coloured lines.

"What about here?" Ben pointed a finger at a cross section of red and blue lines.

Jake thought for a moment,

"Richard show me the other map," He said

Richard unfolded a much larger map. That lacked the lines of the other map.

Jake looked them both up and down,

"Nah it's too far, the tunnel collapsed here when those guys in planes came and bombed it, he'd never make it."

Richard put his thumb under a small section of the map in the top right hand corner.

"That's only a 45 minute walk..." he said "unless we went through the metro here, then we'd be there in like 15."

Jake looked at where Richard was pointing and was about to put him down for even suggesting they go through the metro, but his mind trailed to how much time Balai probably had. He had to admit it was his best chance, but he wasn't going to risk anyone else getting hurt.

"Fine" but you and ben are staying here with Balai and Sarah." He said grabbing his shotgun from the ground.

Sarah looked up indignantly

"I don't have to be looked after!" she heaved.

Jake didn't even look up from the map

"I am not in the mood Sarah!" he snapped.

Sarah furiously turned to Chris for help but Chris seemed to agree with Jake and shook his head lightly.

"I'm coming with you, I hope you know that." He said. Jake turned to face his best friend and they both stood there looking at one another for a few seconds.

"Thanks" Jake said finally, "Come on let's get moving, you guys get inside the supermarket and if anything happens you call us on the radio, got it?"

"No problem" Ben said, and then he turned and helped Richard move Balai into the market.

Jake turned towards the rubble and started to move over it with Chris right next to him. Once on the other side, Chris looked at the raider he'd hit trying to crawl away, She caught sight of them and grabbed the metal pole, she glared at them with pure hate in her eyes. Chris paid her no heed but instead turned to jake.

"Look I'm not trying to say anything here, but can I ask what happened with you and Sarah back there?" He said, choosing his words carefully.

Jake stopped and turned to face him.

"She kissed me on the cheek and said thanks, you've got nothing to worry about, and she said you need to shave." Jake broke into a grin at his last comment.

Chris breathed a little easier and smiled

"Sorry, I just wanted to know, why was she thanking you? Did raiders come round there too?"

Jake shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"Err yeah" he said testily.

"Yeah?" Chris asked curious

"A raider in blaster armour tried to...tried to..." Jake couldn't finish.

Chris felt the pieces fall into place in his mind; he stopped for a few seconds then looked over at the crawling pile of shit to his right. Chris blinked his eyes and looked around confused. He was on his knees, the pip in his right hand, thick with red. He looked down and saw that he was kneeling over what could only describe as a black and blue stain of sick. He got to his feet shakily and turned around. Jake was nowhere to be seen.

"J...Jake!" Chris called out, dropping the pole with a hollow clang and moving towards the stairs to the underground. At the bottom of the stairs leaning against the rusted metal fence was Jake. His eyes closed, arms folded, breathing slowly.

"What...what just happened" Chris asked, a little unsure of himself.

"You told me you needed a minute and to wait for you here, I'm not stupid, I know what you just did and in all honesty I'm ok with it." Jake said, not opening his eyes.

"I don't know what to say" Chris spoke slowly staring at his hands as he did so. "Don't tell Sarah about this, I need to figure out where the hell I just went." Jake opened his eyes and nodded. He beckoned to Chris and shoved open the twisted brown frame of the gate. The pair stepped inside. The dark and windy tunnel stretched on ominously, the floor tiles slick with putrid water. Jake and Chris walked steadily through the tunnel until they reached the old escalators, neither of them working. Chris and Jake walked for what seemed like an age deeper and deeper into the dark of the tunnel until eventually they couldn't see anything around them. Jake retrieved his lighter from his jacket pocket and sparked a light that gave them some sense of what was ahead of them. The flickering flame made the London underground seem more like a dungeon than anything else, the wind slowly but surely washed through the corridors making it seem like they were inside some creature.

Jake felt the wet of the floor slap against his boots loudly and echo down the halls.

"We've got to reach the tracks soon" he whispered squinting in the dark to make out shapes. Chris would've replied but he grabbed Jakes arm with such a ferocious and sudden motion, Jake's hand flew to his shotgun.

"What" he muttered under his breath.

Chris raised a finger slowly and pointed to some kind of metal grate, covering pipes. Jake looked carefully and then saw it, a pink and bulbous face, staring at them both with black, hollow eyes. Shoulders arched back and skeletal fingers gripping the metal grate.

Jake and Chris were both frozen, transfixed on the creature. Specks of saliva dribbled from its teeth as it glared at them accusingly. For what seemed like forever the 3 entities just stared at one another until Jakes finger suddenly burned.

"OW!" he started dropping his lighter. As he did the fleshy animal screamed a piercing scream, Chris slapped his hands over his ears, and Jake grabbed his lighter, sparked it up, pulled out his revolver and shot the monstrosity in the eye. The scream died down but instead of dying the monster grabbed the great and started shaking it furiously; Jake was about to fire again when Chris grabbed his shoulder.

"Look" he shouted pointing at an adjacent tunnel. Jake could barely make out what it was but he could see things moving, things moving very fast, very fast towards them. The pair heard another scream and realized in horror that out of the dark tunnel came a dozen or so people. Chris would never, ever use human to describe these things again. Completely naked, their skin wrinkled and hanging off their bones with black hollow eyes and rancid teeth. For lack of a better word Chris logged them as zombies in his head and then shoved Jake in the opposite direction whilst shouting

"Run!"

Jake and Chris moved as fast as they could away from the zombies in any direction they could. Jake constantly slipped on the wet floor only to have Chris pull him up again. Chris and Jake finally came to an enormous hole in the floor which seemed as if it went down to hell. Chris leapt without breaking stride and landing on the other side turned to see Jake slide to a halt turn and fire his shotgun. The gun blew apart in two pieces, the handle crumbled in his hand and the nose flew off into the dark. Jake dropped the pieces in horror and turned to Chris.

"COME ON!" Chris shouted.

Jake threw himself over the whole and landed just sort of the edge, his hand grasped the wet floor and he slid backwards. Chris clamped his hands around his friends arm and pulled him from the abyss. The pair got to their feet and continued running, the zombies diving over the whole after them with some gothic feline grace. Jake felt his blood burn his veins as they continued running, Chris slammed his feet down one at a time as they ran and ran. Jake finally caught a glimpse of a platform.

"Left here!" He shouted, and as he did they both rounded the corner dropped to the tracks and continued running, up ahead they could see a train car. Chris leapt and kicked the door open and slid into the compartment. Jake hopped up and slammed the door closed behind them. They moved through the cart hearing the noise of the monsters behind them clawing their way through the metal. The ceiling dented downwards as more zombies tried to break in though the ceiling. Chris opened the last door ahead of them and came face to face with one of the horrors in front of them, without a second's hesitation he sucker punched it and watched is it flew backwards wailing.

Jake and Chris left boot imprints on the creatures face as they ran over it and clambered onto the platform ahead of them. Jake led them towards the light as the pair of the climbed the escalators back up towards civilisation. Jake slumped against the locked gate and yelled as loud as he could in anger at the stubborn chain surrounding the gate. Chris pulled on it as hard as he could before kicking it in fury. The pair of them turned to face the mountain of stairs they had scaled and watched as the beings clambered up after them like some plague of insects. Jake pulled out his revolver knowing that he had nowhere near enough bullets. One of the zombies dove at them; Chris thought of Sarah and smiled in the face of death not giving it the satisfaction of fear. The zombie crumpled to the floor its arm landing an inch to the right of its body. They both turned around in one swift motion to see, several people. Not raiders, unlocking the gate and firing into the dark with rifles. A young boy unlocked the gate and called to them.

"In here now, hurry!"

Without a seconds hesitation Chris and Jake moved through the gate and into the sunlight. The group of people stepped back from the grating and watched as the zombies clawed at the metal in frustration.

The young boy turned to them and said "Follow me quickly"

Chris and Jake did as they were told and followed the group of well armed men and women up the stairs and into a large open parking lot. Opposite which was a 5 story high building surrounded by barbed wire, metal fences, mines and armed guards. Chris and Jake took one look at the stained white building and new it was the hospital. Jake looked around at the soldiers, most of them wearing plated green armour, scratched and broken, the guns however seemed in good condition and they all looked disciplined. He guessed that they were professional soldiers that were being paid to protect the building.

Chris wasn't looking at the soldiers instead he nudged Jake and nodded towards the large double doors that were opening up the stairs at the head of the building. Descending the stairs was a tall beautiful woman. She wore a long bright white dress that flowed down to her feet and carelessly glided across the floor without picking up dirt. She seemed completely invulnerable to the world around her. Her face was perfect, the curve of her cheeks and the fullness of her lips. Her deep brown eyes stared right through Chris and Jake as though she knew everything they had to say before they said it. The young boy ran up to her and she leaned down to hug him in a long embrace. Then she spoke.

"Go inside, they are waiting for you." She said, her voice was some kind of contradiction in Jakes mind. She carried herself so well but her voice seemed to have an accessible quality, but Jake new the sound of power when he heard it, she was in charge here. The woman looked on after the boy as he ran inside the building, then she turned and looked at Jake and Chris, the angelica smile she had drawn on her face suddenly left.

"Take them" She said and turned away without another thought. Jake felt something slam into the back of his head and everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**I don't want to set the world on fire**

The sun was on it's way back down from the it's place in the sky. The partially clouded sky occasionally shaded parts of the wasteland below, and the ruined city of London sat peaceful and quiet in the light. The only sign of life was atop a multi story car park, where Michelle and Ryan stood looking out at the landscape.

"we really should head back…" Michelle said more to herself than to Ryan.

Ryan kicked a stone off the roof and watched it plummet to the ground.

"It's been an hour since the radio went dead, if they're in trouble…" he said quietly.

Michelle stood quietly thinking to herself of their next move when a foul stench reached her nostrils. A mixture of wet dog and moist earth, She coughed and brought her sleeve up to her mouth.

"Can you smell that!?" she asked, her voice muffled through the fabric.

Ryan sniffed and immediately brought his hands up to his nose.

"That's awful," he spluttered, "I haven't smelled that since…" Ryan froze.

Michelle watched his expression freeze up and immediately became panic stricken.

"Since what?" she asked reaching out for hey boyfriends arm. Ryan stepped forward and looked over the edge of the multi-story and his fears were realized. Below them was the worst kind of creature. He beckoned to Michelle who peered over the edge and her mouth fell open. The first thought that sprang to her mind was "Were-wolf" but she new that was impossible. The animal was 8 foot tall at least and stood on it's hind legs. The horrible tan coloured hair covering it's body was matted and greasy. The fangs were stained a horrible yellow and it's nose twitched. Michelle and Ryan stared for what seemed a lifetime until the were-wolf type thing, sniffed once…twice…then looked up right at them. The pair of teenagers fell back immediately and stumbled to the floor. Michelle leaned o Ryan's ear and whispered frantically.

"What the hell is that thing? " she asked breathing heavily.

"Me and Ben came across one a year back in Hyde park. Ben called it a Death-claw." Ryan replied.

"Ok…What the hell is it?!" Michelle half shouted in his ear.

Ryans hand shot up and clamped over her mouth.

"SHH!" He said sternly, "We guessed it was what a few hundred years of radiation does to wolves."

Michelle pushed his hand aside, "what did you do last time?"

Ryan sighed and looked at her,

"We ran" and with that he rolled over and crawled across the rooftop to the edge and looked over. The Death-claw had found the ramp leading up to the next floor, which meant it, wouldn't be long before the multi-story roof became too crowded.

Ryan got to his feet and beckoned Michelle to do the same.

"That thing will be up here soon and your pistol isn't going to help at all, we need to think of something." He said, his tone deadly serious.

Michelle looked around the rooftop hoping for some inspiration.

"Could we find a rope to get down somehow?" She said, thinking out loud.

Ryan clicked his fingers to get her attention.

"The stairs, there has to be a stairway that leads to the bottom floor." He said quickly, "Look around for a door or something." Michelle and Ryan scanned the rooftop until

"There," Michelle said Pointing at a rusty grey door set into the brick work.

The two of them ran to the door and Ryan gave the handle a turn and the door a push. The rust seemed to have given the door a stubborn want to stay closed, not in the mood he took a step back and kicked the door right in the middle. It flew off the hinges and clattered forwards. Michelle and Ryan hurried inside and watched as the recently liberated door clattered heavily down the stairs smashed several of the rusted stairs to the ground, a good 15 feet below.

Ryan looked down and swore harshly out loud.

Michelle grasped his hand and lead them back out to the roof.

"That's what you get for being macho" She said looking once more around the multi-story rooftop.

Ryan stared at her, mouth open with an amazed look on his face.

"Is now the time?…Really?" He said exasperated.

Michelle looked at him apologetically then turned back to their immediate surroundings.

"There has to be something we can do!" She said her voice sounding more panicky with every syllable.

"I don't see what there is we can do," Ryan said hopelessly, "I mean, we're trapped up here with nothing but some rusting cars."

Michelle looked at Ryan eyes wide then immediately turned to one of the 3 4 wheeled vehicles parked on the roof.

"Give me a hand," She said suddenly, "I've got an idea."

The large double doors swung open heavily, the harsh stomping of a dozen military boots quickly drowned the swishing sound through the air. Chris looked up from the floor and adjusted his eyes to the light coming through the open doors. Jake slowly opened his eyes and shuffled his chained feet. The metal was hardly comfortable.

The two sat and stared at the soldiers who all stared somewhere past them, deep into the stained panelled wall behind them and beyond. Before either of them new what was going on another soldier stepped through the doorway. He was different this one. He wore no helmet and his dark face was locked eternally into a grimace. His hair was a very short black stain on his head which seemed to pour down his cheeks and wrap around his mouth in a faint beard. His armour was unremarkable and looked the same faded green metal that the other soldiers wore, save for one thing. An insignia was slapped into his left shoulder pad in white paint. 3 Gears one above the other inside a thin circle with wings either side of it and finally, a sword straight up the middle. Jake felt his stomach lurch and he clenched his fists.

The man looked at them both indifferently without showing any sign of communication to his soldiers, somehow told two of them to step forward and unlocked the chains pinning Jake and Chris to the floor. Sluggishly the two got to their feet and found them being shoved and forced through the doorway and down a large corridor. Half a dozen guards were either side of them at all times so Chris couldn't really get a look at his surroundings, but he assumed he was in the hospital.

Soon the two entered a large room and again found themselves force to the ground.

Both now kneeling, they looked up to see the woman in the white dress standing before them. She looked at them both with something of pity, but Chris could see through it. This wasn't the pity of one person to another; this was someone looking down at an animal in pity. She looked at them both for a few seconds and then spoke in her commanding voice. "Why did you come here?"

Jake opened his mouth to speak but found the woman raised her hand.

She looked at Chris and spoke again

"You tell me."

Chris cleared his dry throat and spoke through chapped lips, "We came looking for some medical supplies."

The woman raised an eyebrow sceptically, "Why did you come here?"

Chris opened his mouth but Jake cut across him,

"It's a fucking hospital why do you think we came here!"

Again Jake felt someone hit him over the back of the head, his face flew forwards and collided with the solid floor. A hand pulled him up by the neck of his jacket and Chris saw blood running down Jakes nose.

The women looked from Jake back to Chris and spoke again.

"This was the closest place to you?" she asked

Chris still looked at Jake, "A friend of ours was hurt by raiders and we need to get him some medicine fast or he'd die."

The woman raised a hand and the dark skinned man Chris had seen before approached her side.

"Where is this friend?"

Chris swallowed and looked up into her eyes. "He's through the metro tunnel we came through by a car crash on the bridge near big Ben, 3 of our friends are with him."

The woman lowered her hand and the dark man walked to the door passing in between Chris and Jake. Jake shot out his leg and the man tripped and fell. Jake could hear movement behind him and he shot up to his feet smashing his head into the face of the soldier behind him. Jake brought his elbow down past his waist and slammed it into the gut of the man behind him. Chris moved to his feet and in one fluid motion wrapped his chained hands around the throat of the nearest soldier and pulled his body in front of his own. Chris covered Jake with his newly acquired meat shield whilst Jake rapidly found the key to his bonds from the downed man and freed himself. The other soldiers were all pointing their guns at the two men, refusing to shoot at one of their own. Several of them stepped forward and attempted to grab Chris. Jake swung his fist into the first and Chris launched his foot into the crotch of another. Jake and Chris found themselves backed into the corner of the room, their only protection being the captive soldier Chris held firmly by a twisted arm in front of them. Jake moved his hand to his left pocket and found an empty holster. Fear and panic shot through his mind, as he didn't know how they were going to get out of this now.

Just then the woman stepped in between Jake and her own troops and raised her hands.

"Enough of this!" she said in a soft yet strangely audible voice. "Release him now or I will be forced to kill you all."

Jake looked her in the and shouted at her, "One of my people are out their dieing, so if you have to shoot me, you shoot me but we aren't going to sit around and do nothing, waiting for him to die!"

A strange silence filled the room. The dark skinned man had gotten to his feet and was standing next to the woman, his pistol raised at Jake. The woman raised her hand to her soldiers; they all lowered their weapons. If you let go of him, I promise I will bring your friends here for any help they need."

Jake put his hands on Chris shoulder, Chris loosened his grip on the mans arm and let him move away.

The woman whispered something in the dark mans ear and he jumped to and left the room followed by most of the soldiers. The woman now stood in the middle of the large room with a few other soldiers and looked at them both, her voice was deadly.

"If I find you have lied to us then both of you will pay the price."

Jake and Chris looked at each other then back at her.

She smiled at them and spoke softly to them.

"My name is Jade."

The two relaxed a little.

"Jake"

"Chris"

She looked them both up and down then said "follow me"

Jake and Chris saw no real option and followed her through the door out of the large room. They followed Jade through a long corridor to an elevator. It was large and had railings rather than doors, Jake figured it was probably a service elevator which lifted supplies up to the real hospital, so they must've been kept in a supply room in the basement. The elevator slowly started to move upwards once they were all on.

"I'm sorry for everything that has happened but I must take drastic measures to ensure the safety of this place." Jade said softly

"And what is this place exactly?" Chris asked.

Jade laughed gently, "This place…this place is home…"

The top doors opened and light damn near blinded Chris and Jake.

Blinking furiously they looked around as the elevator slowly stopped.

All around them was noise and movement; it was all very disorientating there were kids running and laughing, people talking and shouting, footsteps, and the sound of cheers and drinks being knocked into one another. Jake quickly became adjusted to the light and could finally see where he was. The hospital floor was alive, the large windows let sunlight stream in, the large open space had a few tables surrounding a large circle of desks in the Centre. Within this circle was a balding in a greasy shirt with a towel flung over his shoulder and 3 large steel barrels that came up to his knees. Sitting at the tables surrounding this make shift bar were men and women all talking and laughing, drinking and eating.

Chris spoke first,

"I don't understand, how could you keep this place secret?"

"And how do you keep a community gowning with children as well?" Jake continued.

"The third floor is a school, we teach the children everything we feel they need to know, the ground floor is for food and recreation, the outside is perfect for physical training, the 1st floor is for sleeping as is a partial amount of the 3rd floor." Jade answered without breaking stride. They were outside walking along the large concrete wall that stood 10 feet high and Jake suspected must go around the entire hospital. They saw groups of soldiers jogging, teenagers with unloaded rifles practicing drills against mannequins salvaged from some poor clothes store. There was some younger children still probably the age of twelve doing push-ups. Jake was amazed at the sort of life these people were living here, his train of thought continued about how amazing this place truly was and his new found respect for Jade when suddenly he went cold. He looked down at his feet and saw the giant shadow of the 5 story high hospital had fallen upon him.


End file.
